Tank system for automatic photographic apparatus



2- a. a. ROCHESTIE ET AL 1,346,570

TANK SYSTEM FOR AUTOMATIC PHOTOGRAPHIC APPARATUS Original Filed May 26, 1928 3 sheets -Sheet 1 l'. II

5 33067266 Zia l 7 I I amine Feb. 23, 1932. B. B. ROCHESTIE ET AL 1,846,570

TANK SYSTEM FOR AUTOMATIC PHOTOGRAPHIC APPARATUS Original Filed May 26 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Feb. 23, 1932. 1,846,570

TANK SYSTEM FOR AUTOMATIC PHOTOGRAPHIC APPARATUS B. B. ROCHESTlE-ET AL Original Filed May 26, 1928 I5 Sheets-Sheet Z5 Patented Feb. 23, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE BARNETT :B. ROGHESTIE nn WILLIAIll H. J'AEGEB, or TRENTON, NEW missus, As-

SIGNORS, BY MESNE assrenmmvzrs; TO PARK rLAGE DISGO'UNT co.

TANK SYSTEM FOR AUTOMATIC PHOTOGRAPHIC APPARATUS Application filed May 26, 1928, 'Serial No. 280,925. Renewed December 4, 1981 This invention relates to automatic photographing apparatus, and particularly to an apparatus wherein upon thedeposit of a coin a strip of sensitized paper is fed step by step past a lens system and shutter therefor, that portion of the strip which has been exposed being then cutoff and subsequently developed, washed, fixed and otherwise treated and then discharged as a strip having thereon a plurality of photographs of the person sitting before the camera.

The present invention is particularly directed to the developing, fixin and treating tanks and to the means where y the strip is caused to automatically pass through said tanks and through a drier, the camera and the means for automatically shifting the strip step by step past the lens system being illustrated, described and claimedin my copending application for Patent Serial #280,926, filed on the 26th day of May, 1928.

The general object of the present invention is to provide a simple and effective means whereby the sensitized exposed strip may be carried first into a developin tank, then into a washing tank, then to a leaching tank, again into a washing tank, then. into a tank containing a fixing solution, then again into a washing tank, then into a redeveloping tank, then agairijnt a final washing tank,

and from thence carried to a drier.

A further object is to provide a drying compartment into which the stripof paper is passed from'thelast tank of the series having at the entrance end of the drying compartment a pair of squeegee rolls or wrin er rolls acting to squeeze the water out of the strip of paper, and provide in connection with the drying compartment means for the'inlet of heated air to thereby dry the paper.

A still further object is to provide in the f several tanks means for directing the strip of :j paper downWardinto the tank and then'carrying it upward over the wall of the tank into the next tank, and provide in the washing tanks meanswhereby sprays of water may be directed against opposite sides of the paper.

I Another object is to provide in this connection a conveyor frame, between the walls of which the strip of paper moves, this conpaper strip, and provide means preventing the paper from getting out of the groove in the walls and to increase the traction on the paper.

Still another object is to provide in one of the tanks a redeveloping lamp which is necessary where positive print paper is used and which contains a solution of sodium sulphite.

A further object is to provide cooling coils disposed in the tanks containing the develop ing, redeveloping and fixing solutions.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.

Our invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a side elevation of a tank system for automatic photographing apparatus;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary, vertical, longitudinal sectional view through certain of the tanks of the system and through the drier;

Figure 3 is a top plan view \of the tanks and conveyors shown in Figure 2, the drier casing being removed Figure 4 is a fragmentary section on the line 44 of Figure 3;

/ Figure 5 is a section on the line 55 of Figure 2;

Figure 6 is a fragmentary longitudinal section through the last tank of the series and ghrough the entrance end of the drying cham- Figure 7 is a diagrammatic view of the cooling coils and system.

Referring to these drawings, it will be seen that we provide a series of tanks A, B, C. D, E, F, G and .H. These tanks are pro-'. vided with the longitudinally extending side walls 10 the end walls. ll'and the transverse 'partitionwalls 12. These partition walls 12 do not extend up to the top of the'tank but a space is left between the top of the tank and the upper; end of each partition. The

bottom wall is designated 13 and is provided with drainage openings 14having valves 15 and from which a drain pipe 16 leads. Obviously, separate drainage pipes and valves might be provided for each one of the tanks instead of having a common drain pi e.

Disposed longitudinally within the tank are the two parallel panels 17 which support the conveyor. These panels 17 are vertically slotted at intervals, as at 18, so as to fit down over the partitions 12. The panels do not 5 extend to the lower ends of the partitions but terminate short thereof but do extend to the top of the tank. The forward end wall of the tank is provided with the downwardly extending slot 19 through which the paper strip 20 enters. The conveyor frame walls or panels 17 are held apart by spacers 21 disposed at. intervals, and mounted in the tank A are three pairs of rolls 22 and 23. These rolls upon the exterior of one panel 17 are provided with intermeshing gear wheels 24 so that both rolls will rotate together. The side panels 17 are formed with grooves 25 and the meeting faces of the rolls 22 and 23 are disposed in line with these grooves. The groove in tank A extends downward toward the bottom of the tank and then extends upward toward the top of the tank.

The rolls 22 and 23 are disposed upon the downward incline of this groove at the extreme lower end of the groove and at the upper incline of the groove. The rolls 23 are driven by idlcrs 26 and 27 which mesh with the gears 24 of the rolls 23. The upper rolls 23 are of uniform diameter from end to end but each lower roll 22 at its middle is formed with a circumferential groove 28. The rolls and their shafts are all formed of hard rubber so as to not be attacked by acids and the shafts of the lower rolls are mounted in slots in the side wall 17, and a hard rubber spring 29 supported by transverse pins or spacers 30 is disposed between the conveyor walls and at its ends bears upward against the outer rolls 22. fitting in the grooves thereof, and at its middle is upwardly bent and then concavely bent, as at 31, to bear against the middle roller 28 and to operate within the groove thereof. Thus by means of these hard rubber springs 29. all of the rolls 22 are forced against the rollers 23 so as to secure a good tractive engagement of the rolls with the paper strip.

Disposed above the partition 12 separating the tank A and the tank B. the latter being a washing tank. are a pair of rolls 32 of the same general character as the rolls 22 and 23 but positively driven. the shaft 33 of one roll extending out through the tank wall and being provided with a gear wheel 34. The gear wheel 34 is driven by a constantly operating shaft 35. which in turn is driven from a motor 36. as will be later stated. The tank B. as before stated, is a washingtank and hence the .paper strip is not carried downward deeply into this tank but is simply carried between sprays of washing water.

To this end. there is a pair of rolls 22a and 23a of the same character as the rolls 22 and 23 intergeared with each other and driven by i an idler 37 which i engaged by the gear wheel 38 of the upper roll 23a. This idler is driven in the same manner as the idler 27, that is, above the next succeeding partition there are two rolls of the same character as the rolls 32 previously referred to, the shaft of one of these rolls being positively driven in the same manner as the shaft 33 is positively driven.

The film passes upward from the rolls 23a and 22a to the rolls 32 above the partition separating the tanks B and C and then passes into the tank C which contains a bleaching solution composed of sulphuric acid, bichromate of potassium or any other suitable solution. In this tank C the same arrangement of rolls and 'idlers is provide as in tank A and a spring of exactly the same character as the spring 29 is used for forcing the lower rolls up against the upper rolls. The tank C, however, is not quite so wide or as long as the tank A.

lVe have described the conveyor rolls 22 and 23 and 22a and 23a and the tanks A and B and the means for driving the rolls. There are preferably eight tanks, in four of which the paper is submitted to a. washing process by water discharged from spray pipes 41 and in four of which the paper strip is submitted to the action of a chemical bath, and in all of the last mentioned tanks, namely A, C, E and G, the strip conveying means and the driving means therefor is as illustrated for the tank A, while in all of the washing tanks B, D, F and H the strip is submitted to the action of water discharged from the spray pipes 41 and the strip conveying means an driving means therefor is the same as that shown and described for tank B.

In Figure 2, we have illustrated the tanks A and B, a portion of the tanks D and F, and the tank E. The tank E has therein a fixing or clearing solution of any suitable character as sodium sulphite and as a positive print requires a second exposure to light before it can be redeveloped and turned into a positive print, we dispose in tank E a lamp 43 which gives this second exposure to light. We have designated the rolls which pass the strip from tank D into tank E as 32a and 33a, the rubber spring being designated 34a. The tank rolls have been designated 22b and 23b, and in idler 26b operatively connects the upper rolls 236 with each other.

The tank G has therein a redeveloping solution through which the strip of paper is carried and in the last tank H the strip is again submitted to the action of the sprays 41 to thoroughly wash it before its passage into the drying compartment.

Disposed within one side of the tank 10 is a system of cooling coils, that is, a pipe or pipes 44 which are connected, as shown in the diagrammatic view in Figure 7, to a water main and to an ice chest 45. This pipe 44 extends only into the tanks or compartments having chemicals therein and does not extend the top of the ice chest 45 and the opposite ,end ofthe pipe 44 is connected to a circulating pipe 46 which extends to the bottom of the ice chest and is provided with a drain valve 47. Extending from the upper end of the pipe 46 adjacent its intersection with the cooling pipe 44, a pipe 49 leads to the water sprays in the several washing compartments and is provided with a valve 50 controlling communication to the water sprays. A pipe 51 leads from the water pipe 48 into the pipe 49 and is controlled by a valve 52. The opposite end of the pipe 48 communicates with the pipe 44 and is controlled by a valve 53. Obviously, we do not wish to be limited .to this cooling system or to the particular means whereby the water is discharged from the sprays. By this means the several chemical solutions to which the strip is subjected are kept at the proper temperature for develop ing, redeveloping, fixing, bleaching, etc.

From the last washing tank H to the series of tanks, the stripis directed by a roll 54 upward through a tubular guide 55 into a longitudinally extending drying chamber 56. This extends longitudinally over the series of tanks. Disposed within this drying chamber are the upper and lower endless conveyor chains 57 and 58. These chains at one end passover the sprockets 59 and the strip is guided into the space between the lower flight of the upper chain and the upper flight of the lower chain by means of the soft rubber squeegee rolls 60. These are driven in any suitable manner, as from the shafts of the sprocket wheels 59 and act to express or wring the water from the paper strip before the paper strip is delivered onto the conveyor chains.

Any suitable driving means may be used for driving these squeegee rolls. The conveyor chains at their forward ends, of course, pass over suitable sprocket wheels in the usual manner and these sprocket wheels may be the driving sprocket wheels and operatively connected to the longitudinal shaft 42.

The upper and lower conveyors are each formed, as shown in Figure 5, with a chain 61 and with laterally projecting, curved arms 62 projecting at intervals from this chain. The arms of the upper flight of the lower conveyor 58 project upward and the arms of the lower flight of the chain 57 proj ect downward. The arms of the lowerflight have a staggered relation to the arms of the upper flight so that the paper strip or film is supported between these arms, as illustrated in Figure 5. Thus the least possible contact is secured between the conveyor chains, or rather between the conveyor arms and the film or strip, so that the strip will dry thoroughly. The drying chamber is some forty inches in length or may have any other suitable dimension and the paper strip is discharged against a guide 63 which discharges the dry strip with its pictures thereon into a boot or box 64, from which the pictures may be withdrawn by the subect.

For the purpose of heating the air within the drying chamber 56, we mount upon the side ofthe drying chamber an air heater, designated generally 65, which has a tubular connection 66 to a blower 67 driven by the motor 36. Within the air heater there is disposed an electrically energized heating coil or other element and the air is conducted from the heater 65 by a pipe 68 to a manifold 69 having openings leading into the interior of the drying chamber.

Thus it will be seen that air will be forced into the rear end of the drying chamber and that this air will be heated so as to absorb moisture very readily and dry the film before it is discharged.

It is to be understood that there are valved drainage openings leading from each of the chemical containing tanks as, for instance, the tanks A, B, E and G, but that drainage openings lead from the water tanks to the pipe 16 which continually drains off the water, this water being discharged in any suitable manner.

It willbe seen that the conveying rolls 22 and 23 and 22a and 23a are yieldingly pressed against the film and it"will be, of course, understood that these rolls are of hard rubber, as are their shafts, so that they will not be affected by the acid. The springs 29, being of rubber, will not be affected by acid. Those gears which are disposed within the tanks and subjected to the action of the acid or acidulated water are, of course, of rubber and only the gears 34 on the exterior of the main tank are of metal. The provision of the groove in the panels 17, that is, the conveyor .Walls, is particularl important, as by this means the film is gui ed along its side edges into posi tion between the several pairs of feeding rolls. These feedin rolls are disposed at such dis tances apart that the film will always be subjected to the action of a plurality of pairs of.

these feeding rolls so that the film or strip cannot possibly curl out of its proper path of movement and cannot take any other course than that intended.

It is to be particularly noted that in our construction the developing tank and conveyor means is horizontal and not vertical and that the tanks are relatively shallow and relatively wide. While we have heretofore described the tanks as being used for developing a strip of film which has been exposed by the photographing apparatus described and claimed in our copending ap ication previously referred to, yet it is to be understood that the developing apparatus might also be used for developing a strip of an exposed film which has been snapped or photographed by a hand camera or any other camera and separately from any exposure in the photographic apparatus befo-re referred to. Thus, for instance, such a strip of film produced by an outside source may be inserted in the slot 19 or equivalent slot, and inasmuch as the mechanism is being continuously operated, the film will be fed through the several tanks in precisely the same manner as the film 19. Of course, it will be understood that the'chemicals designed to be used with this tank are for positive print paper and, therefore, this tank is adapted particularly for developing and fixing a film of positive print paper photographed in an ordinary hand camera.

While we have illustrated a particular construction which we have found to be thoroughly effective for the purpose intended, we do not wish to be limited to the details thereof as obviously these might be varied in many ways without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

We claim 1. In an automatic photographic apparatus, a tank for treating a sensitized strip and means for conveying the strip through the tank comprising two side panels, a plurality of pairs of conveyor rolls mounted between the panels andhaving intermeshing gears, the panels having opposed grooves describing the path of movement of the strip between the said pairs of rolls and by which grooves the margins of the strip are guided, means for driving said rolls, one roll of each pair of rolls being mounted for movement toward or from the companion roll, and resilient means urging the movable rolls toward their companion rolls comprisin a rubber spring disposed in the bottom of the tank and supported therein, said spring having portions bearing upward against the movably mounted rolls.

2. In a machine for treating sensitized strips, a tank, a pair of lower rolls between which the strip passes, two pairs of rolls on each side of and above the rolls and between which the strip passes, means for positively driving one of each pair of rolls, the other roll of each pair being movable toward or from its companion roll and being circumferentially grooved, and a spring engaging each eircumferentially grooved roll and urging it toward the positively driven roll.

3. In a machine for treating sensitized strips, a tank, a pair of lower rolls between which the strip passes, two pairs of rolls on each side of and above the rolls and between which the strip passes, means for positively driving one of each pair of rolls, the other roll of each pair being movable toward or from its companion roll and being circumferentiall grooved, and a single spring having its mi dle portion extending upward to bear against 

